Sanya Phoenix Airport lies 20 km (12mi) from the city center, offering service to 23 domestic destinations including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Wuhan, Qingdao and Shenzhen. International flights offer service to Singapore, Macau, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, and Tokyo. New arrivals can take a taxi (around 30 RMB - make sure to ask the driver to take Yanhai Lu, which follows the beautiful coastline) or a bus to Sanya Bay or Dadonghai (15 RMB). The airport bus's terminus is on Jiefang Yi Lu in the city center.
Bus
Long-distance bus:
Sanya's Main Bus Station is located in Jiefang Erlu. There are nearly 100 long-distance buses to every county or city of Hainan as well as about 20 buses to some other provinces such as Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, and Jiangxi. Departure times range from 7:00 to 23:00 everyday.
The special express bus bound for Haikou departs every 20 minutes. It will take you about three hours from Sanya to Haikou via the eastern highway and about 3.5 hours via the western highway. The ticket fee is CNY 79 for a deluxe bus and CNY 49 for an ordinary bus.
City-bus:
The bus traffic in Sanya is very convenient for a small city. There are buses to almost every county and tourist attraction. The main route is from Dadonghai to Civil Aviation Stop with the ticket fee ranging from CNY 1-4 in accordance with the destinations you are bound for.
No. 2 and No. 4 can take you to Dadonghai via the Main Bus Station and the First Market with a fare of CNY 1.
No. 104 can take you to Tianya Haijiao, Nanshan, and Ancient Yazhou City. The fare for a complete circuit is CNY 6.
Tourist mini buses start from Western Bus Station and head towards Asian Dragon Bay, Tianya Haijiao, and Nanshan, etc. Taihe Bus will take you to Asian Dragon Bay via Dadonghai and Tiandu every 30 minutes. Buses to Tianya Haijiao and Nanshan run every 15 minutes and charge CNY 4 per person.
In addition, you can also take double-decker sightseeing buses to some attractions. These buses depart every 10 minutes from Asian Dragon Bay at about 7:15 via Dadonghai, Sanya Bay and Hawksbill Island to Tianya Haijiao. The latest return run to Asian Dragon Bay is about 19:00. The tourist special bus will take you about 70 minutes for the whole journey. The fare from Asian Dragon Bay to Tianya Haijiao is CNY 8.
Taxi
Traveling by taxi is also a good way to get around while in Sanya as it is convenient and inexpensive. The starting fare is CNY 5 or CNY 6 within three kilometers and additional CNY 1.3 or CNY 1.5 per kilometer due to the different types of taxies. Generally speaking, the fare is CNY 5 in the city zone, about CNY 8-10 to Dadonghai, CNY 15 to Sanya Bay, and CNY 25-30 to Asian Dragon Bay. It is a very good idea to confirm the fare with the taxi driver in advance when traveling to different attractions. Taxi fare at night (1:00-5:00) involves an added 20% on top of the base fare.
